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Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Let's talk about cookbooks!

So, I love cookbooks....who doesn't? Especially the sweet ones.

There are a few things I look for when I am buying a cookbook.

1 - Pictures

There must be pictures...loads of them! It can be pictures showing the steps in the recipe or it could be a picture of the finished product. Whichever it is, there must be pictures! The best is to have a picture for every single recipe, if not at least most of recipes in the book. I am definitely a sucker for choosing a recipe when I like how the picture of it looks like. As the saying goes "we eat with our eyes first".

2 - Dual Measurements

Wondering what this is? For example, sometimes the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of oil, instead of measuring it up in a cup, I use the weighing method. That way I can simply mix the oil with the other ingredients (usually sugar) into the bowl I am going to use. That way, I save myself from washing an extra baking utensil. I know I'm lazy like that. Besides, I believe that some say that measuring out ingredients in weight, is more accurate than the cup method.

3 - Tips and Hints

Who doesn't like tips? It really helps, trust me. For example, simple things like how long can this cake be stored for? Does it need to be refrigerated? Can this cookie dough be frozen? And if so, how long? These sort of tips does help, at least for me. Apart from that, for example, I never really measure the amount when I'm making icing for my cupcakes...I just add more butter or icing sugar depending on how thick or runny I would need it to be.

4 - Summary/Index

This definitely makes it easier to find a recipe. Whether it is based on the type of ingredient used like Chocolate? or it can be based on the textures for cookies (crunchy, crispy, chewy, soft). There are also cookbooks which indexes their recipes according to the difficulty level of a recipe. All these indexing style surely makes it easier to find a specific recipe.

5 - Stockists

It is always good to know where to buy certain specialty ingredients or utensils. Though sometimes, it can be irrelevant, when a recipe uses a specialty ingredient that is used commercially, but home bakers are not able to get their hands on them. Whatever it is, it is still good to know where to get the supplies!

What do you look for when you're buying a cookbook? Or do you just buy a cookbook because it is just so darn pretty!